Eleven-year-old Lynte Henderson’s story is the kind you discover in a heart-tugging television segment, the type that lingers in your head long after it’s over. His story has all the standout elements: the struggle, the triumph, the personal will, and the supportive inner circle. Above all, Henderson’s story is one of exceptional achievement. The fifth-grade Summit Academy Akron Elementary School student will receive a junior black belt in therapeutic martial arts on May 5.
“It’s a first. This might even be the last. It’s almost impossible for this to happen,” says Sensei James Gydosh, who has taught Henderson therapeutic martial arts since he began attending the school as a kindergartener. Henderson is the first student in Summit Academy’s 26-year history to achieve this milestone.
At Summit Academy Akron Elementary School, therapeutic martial arts is built into the curriculum as a means to emotional growth.
“Lynte embodies that. He has risen from challenges,” explains Gydosh, a Summit Academy alumnus who earned his black belt at Summit Academy when he was 17. One year later, Gydosh earned a second-degree black belt and was named a sensei.
For Henderson, having Gydosh as his sensei runs deep with respect, understanding and appreciation.
“He’s a good sensei and has taught me a lot of things. He’s kind and well respected,” says Henderson, describing Gydosh, who has trained the young martial artist for the past six years. Outside of school for the past three years, Henderson also has trained with school board member David Ames, a ninth-degree Kwan Mu Kan black belt. Ames will present Henderson with his junior black belt.
While Henderson’s achievement speaks on behalf of his talent and hard work, even more so, it represents his maturity, leadership and character. He is a high-ranking scholar with an impeccable attendance record and unmistakable humility. He is viewed by his classmates as a role model and voice of reason, say Presley and Gydosh.
“I am so proud of the young man that Lynte has become. It has been a journey that we have walked together. We have watched him grow, improving on his skills and becoming the amazing student he is,” says Presley, adding that moments like this define her reason for directing the school.
She credits the school’s therapeutic martial arts program not just for Henderson’s remarkable accomplishments, but for those of all her students. “It helps with respect, with body awareness and coordination, self-esteem and students’ ability to break through barriers. I believe wholeheartedly in the program,” Presley says.
Under the same program, Gydosh was trained by Shihan Chuck Rickard, who heads Summit Academy’s signature therapeutic arts offering. He says Rickard, Presley and the program have molded him into who he is today. “They have led me to this moment, being the person I am. Martial arts is not a sport. It’s a lifestyle. I was given such a great opportunity,” he says.
As Gydosh pays opportunity forward to Henderson and his other students, he does so with high levels of understanding and expectation, never allowing a student’s disability to serve as an excuse for reaching or exceeding their full potential.
“’No’ was never going to be an option for Lynte,” Gydosh says. He adds that Henderson’s rigorous flight to earning a junior black belt – all 1,000 hours of training towards it, including the ability to perform katas with as many as 125 memorized movements and understanding their meanings – was inevitable.
“I pushed him. That’s been our journey. Sometimes we reach that fork in the road and we work it out in our own way,” says Gydosh, who has taken Henderson under his wing like a son.
Shihan Rickard says Henderson’s journey and that of every therapeutic martial artist is one of self-growth and self-belief.
“It takes an incredible amount of working on oneself as a person,” he says. “Inevitably you come up with what feels like a roadblock, and you have to find a way to get through it. You build up your confidence and you realize your full potential and ability to be successful in life.”
Just ask Lynte Henderson.